43 short films from the front lines of climate change

Rising sea levels, endangered coastlines and unpredictable weather are all hot-button issues for environmental activists and educators like Elizabeth (Liz) Miller, a documentary filmmaker and communication studies professor in Concordia’s Faculty of Arts and Science.

“We are seeing one of the greatest migrations of all times toward coastal cities at precisely the moment we should consider retreat,” says Miller, who turned her concerns into The Shore Line project.

The new collaborative multimedia web initiative comprises 43 short videos about front-line activists in nine countries. The website also features an interactive atlas, flood maps and a database of free, classroom-ready resources.

A selection of the videos will premiere on Tuesday, November 14 at the Montreal International Documentary Festival (RIDM). They will also be available for interactive viewing in the UXdoc space — on the first floor of UQAM's Pavillon Judith-Jasmin Annexe (1564 Saint-Denis) — every day from November 9 to 19.

“The project asks, ‘What can we learn from those living on the coast — the front line of environmental change’?” explains Miller, who wrote, directed and produced The Shore Line.

Viewers see collaborative initiatives that address diverse issues all over the globe, such as Norway’s precarious arctic coral reef and Florida’s nuclear waste.

There are films about Panama’s coastal garbage problem and the acidifying ocean water off the West Coast of Canada. Other films grapple with sinking islands off New Zealand, endangered Chilean glaciers and the need to plan for displaced coastal residents — to name just a few issues.